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In highschool, I was given a list of 100 approved books (probably all classics) and could choose any of them to do my report/project/assignment. This made me feel like I had control and I think it got me a lot more interested in the book. I don't remember how my teach handled the group discussions.

I don't know if it's a good idea at all, but I definitely don't think it should be truly free choice. Maybe it would work if they had a list of 5 or 10 good books to choose from, and could discuss the book/work in sub-groups with others who chose the same book.

But really, they should be doing their fun reading outside of class. English class is/should be about expanding horizons a bit, pushing kids outside their comfort zone, and exposing them to worlds they'd miss out on otherwise. Plus, it builds good camaraderie if everyone in class can groan together about having to read The Odyssey or Madame Bovary. I guess I could see having, say, every 3rd or 4th book read for English class being semi-free choice, so that the class has the experience of reading a good/challenging book all together, and then experiences the "free choice" book as being sort of a reward/fun thing.

hyzen - I failed to mention that my class was semi-free just as you described. I think that's what made the free ones more exciting.

Like Julia5, I have taken classes where there's a list of 25 books or a shelf of a number of books and we're allowed to pick one of those. I remember in 6th grade all of the girls read Witch of Blackbird Pond and the boys all selected Sounder. We both read good books and everyone was excited about reading. If you present a limited amount of choice, I can imagine that you can still break the class into tiny groups for discussion.

When I as in high school waaaaay back 14 years ago, I always had teachers who allowed us to pick our own book and write a report. Of course they had final say in the matter. My freshman English teacher vetoed my selection of "Hotel New Hampshire" deeming it inappropriate with adult topics.

I was a high school English teacher before staying home with my son. I taught in schools where motivation to read was very low. I gave my students both free choice and teacher selected novels (from the California state approved list).

I allowed them free choice when it came to Silent Sustained Reading--10 to 15 minutes of independent reading as a "warm-up" to class beginning. We would then follow that with our class curriculum that may have been focused on a novel or play that I selected, ie The Odyssey, Of Mice and Men, etc. We all got what we wanted/needed.

hmm. if i let my daughter pick her books we would be reading "blue's clues christmas" everyday, LOL

j
http://prudentadviceformybabydaughter.blogspot.com

i did an ass-load of self-selected reading for school (and for myself), and that's great. however, having an entire class read the same book is important too. just reading something and responding to it yourself isn't the same as having a discussion with other people who get different things out of it because they're reading it from a different perspective, along with the guidance of a teacher who can help students discover themes and identify foreshadowing and understand references they otherwise wouldn't get. i think a balance between the two is good.

i went to a private school that was really big on reading the classics. every summer, we had to read a book that was selected for us and an essay was due on the first day of school. ug. however, for spring semester, we were able to choose our own book. i liked that much better. however, there did come a point when i was told that i could no longer choose Dickens...i was a little stuck on the guy! i was quite a motivated reader when i was in school, so the choice didn't really motivate me any more than having an assigned text. i would have read anything i could get my little hands on. however, i can see how choosing might motivate a child who is reluctant to read in general.

I think it's not a bad idea to allow students to choose their own books a few times a year, but as someone else said, it's important to have class discussions on the same topic, and you'd need to read the same book for that to occur. And I think it would be an interesting assignment if a student was required to justify his or her choice before choosing any book. A student could read "Twilight" if s/he was able to come up with enough good reasons why it's important enough to be read as a class assignment. The student would learn a lot more from that assignment than from most books.

I have taught high school English for 5 years. One technique similar to the one discussed here is called "literature circles". I gave the class a choice of 6 different novels and then they signed up for the books. This formed their "circle" (like a reading group at a bookstore or library). Each group was responsible for dividing up certain tasks due each day and organizing how much reading would be done at what pace. At the end of the 4 weeks each group would present on their book. Specific assignments like vocabulary, character traits, plot development and author research were required. Free choice is great- but too difficult to properly analyze or assess as the teacher. Breaking it into a choice of options that I can manage.

treber, i hope my kids end up with awesome teachers like you!